FORCE SYSTEM

RESULTANTS
 Moment of a Force – Scalar
Formulation
• When a force is applied to a body it will produce a tendency for the
body to rotate about a point that is not on the line of action of the
force. This tendency to rotate is sometimes called a torque , but most
often it is called the moment of a force or simply the moment .
The moment about point O , or about an axis passing through
O and perpendicular to the plane, is a vector quantity since it
has a specified magnitude and direction. Magnitude.

Magnitude. The magnitude of is

where d is the moment arm or perpendicular distance from the axis at point O
to the line of action of the force. Units of moment magnitude consist of force
times distance, e.g., N.m or lb.ft

Direction. The direction of is defined by its moment axis , which is perpendicular to

the plane that contains the force F and its moment arm d . The right-hand rule is
used to establish the sense of direction of MO . According to this rule, the natural curl
of the fingers of the right hand, as they are drawn towards the palm, represent the
rotation, or if no movement is possible, there is a tendency for rotation caused by the
moment.
• Resultant Moment.
• For two-dimensional problems, where all the forces lie within the x–y plane,
the resultant moment about point O (the z axis) can be determined by
finding the algebraic sum of the moments caused by all the forces in the
system. As a convention, we will generally consider positive moments as
counterclockwise since they are directed along the positive z axis (out of the
page). Clockwise moments will be negative. Doing this, the directional sense
of each moment can be represented by a plus or minus sign.
Example
• For each case illustrated, determine the moment of the force about
point O .
• Determine the resultant moment of the four forces acting on the rod
shown about point O .
Cross Product
• The cross product of two vectors A and B yields the vector C , which is
written
• Direction. Vector C has a direction that is perpendicular to the plane
containing A and B such that C is specified by the right-hand rule; i.e.,
curling the fingers of the right hand from vector A (cross) to vector B ,
the thumb points in the direction of C.

where the scalar AB sin θ defines the magnitude of C and the unit
vector defines the direction of C .
• Laws of Operation.
• Cartesian Vector Formulation.
The equation may also be written in a more compact determinant form as
Moment of a Force – Vector
Formulation

• The moment of a force F about point O , or actually about the

moment axis passing through O and perpendicular to the plane
containing O and F , can be expressed using the vector cross product,
namely,

r represents a position vector directed from O to any point on

the line of action of F
• Magnitude.
The magnitude of the cross product is defined = rF sin θ, where the angle θ
is measured between the tails of r and F . To establish this angle, r must be treated
as a sliding vector so that θ can be constructed properly. Since the moment arm d =
r sin θ , then

Direction. The direction and sense of are determined by the right-hand rule as it applies to the cross product.
Thus, sliding r to the dashed position and curling the right-hand fingers from r toward F , “r cross F ,” the
thumb is directed upward or perpendicular to the plane containing r and F and this is in the same direction as
MO, the moment of the force about point O.
• Principle of Transmissibility.
The cross product operation is often used in three dimensions
since the perpendicular distance or moment arm from point O to the
line of action of the force is not needed. In other words, we can use any
position vector r measured from point O to any point on the line of
action of the force F

Since F can be applied at any point along its line of action and
still create this same moment about point O , then F can be
considered a sliding vector . This property is called the principle
of transmissibility of a force.
• Cartesian Vector Formulation.
If we establish x, y, z coordinate axes, then the position vector r
and force F can be expressed as Cartesian vectors,
• Resultant Moment of a System of Forces.
If a body is acted upon by a system of forces, the resultant
moment of the forces about point O can be determined by vector
addition of the moment of each force. This resultant can be written
symbolically as
Example
• Determine the moment produced by the force F about point O.
• Two forces act on the rod shown. Determine the resultant moment
they create about the flange at O .
Principle of Moments
• A concept often used in mechanics is the principle of moments ,
which is sometimes referred to as Varignon’s theorem since it was
originally developed by the French mathematician Varignon (1654–
1722). It states that the moment of a force about a point is equal to
the sum of the moments of the components of the force about the
point . This theorem can be proven easily using the vector cross
product since the cross product obeys the distributive law . For
example, consider the moments of the force F and two of its
components about point O.
Since F = F1 + F2 we have

For two-dimensional problems, the principle of moments can be

solve by resolving the force into its rectangular components and
then determine the moment using a scalar analysis. Thus,
Example
• Determine the moment of the force about point O.
• Force F acts at the end of the angle bracket. Determine the moment
of the force about point O .
 Moment of a Force About a Specified
Axis
• The force applied to the wrench will create a tendency for the wrench
and the nut to rotate about the moment axis passing through O ;
however, the nut can only rotate about the y axis. Therefore, to
determine the turning effect, only the y component of the moment is
needed, and the total moment produced is not important.
• Vector Analysis.
To find the moment of force F about the y axis using a vector analysis, we
must first determine the moment of the force about any point O on the y axis, = r x
F. The component My along the y axis is the projection of MO onto the y axis. It can
be found using the dot product.
Examples
• Determine the resultant moment of the three forces about the x axis,
the y axis, and the z axis.
• Determine the moment produced by the force F, which tends to
rotate the rod about the AB axis.
• Determine the magnitude of the moment of force F about segment
OA of the pipe assembly
Moment of a Couple
• A couple is defined as two parallel forces that have the same
magnitude, but opposite directions, and are separated by a
perpendicular distance d.
• The moment produced by a couple is called a couple moment . To
determine its value find the sum of the moments of both couple
forces about any arbitrary point. For example, position vectors and
are directed from point O to points A and B lying on the line of action
of -F and F . The couple moment determined about O is therefore

This result indicates that a couple moment is a free vector , i.e., it

can act at any point since M depends only upon the position vector
r directed between the forces and not the position vectors and ,
directed from the arbitrary point O to the forces. This concept is
unlike the moment of a force, which requires a definite point (or
axis) about which moments are determined.
• Scalar Formulation. The moment of a couple, M is defined as having a
magnitude of

where F is the magnitude of one of the forces and d is the perpendicular

distance or moment arm between the forces. The direction and sense of
the couple moment are determined by the right-hand rule, where the
thumb indicates this direction when the fingers are curled with the sense
of rotation caused by the couple forces. In all cases, M will act
perpendicular to the plane containing these forces.
• Vector Formulation. The moment of a couple can also be expressed
by the vector cross product using
• Equivalent Couples. If two couples produce a moment with the same
magnitude and direction , then these two couples are equivalent .
• Resultant Couple Moment. Since couple moments are vectors, their
resultant can be determined by vector addition.

If more than two couple moments act on the body, we may

generalize this concept and write the vector resultant as
Example
• Determine the resultant couple moment of the three couples acting
on the plate.
• Determine the magnitude and direction of the couple moment acting
on the gear.
• Determine the couple moment acting on the pipe shown. Segment AB
is directed 30° below the x–y plane.
Further Simplification of a Force and
Couple System
• The force system can be further reduced to an equivalent single
resultant force provided the lines of action of and are perpendicular
to each other. Because of this condition, only concurrent, coplanar,
and parallel force systems can be further simplified
• Concurrent Force System. Since a concurrent force system is one in
which the lines of action of all the forces intersect at a common point
O , then the force system produces no moment about this point. As a
result, the equivalent system can be represented by a single resultant
force = F acting at O.
• Coplanar Force System. In the case of a coplanar force system , the lines of action of
all the forces lie in the same plane, and so the resultant force = F of this system also
lies in this plane. Furthermore, the moment of each of the forces about any point O
is directed perpendicular to this plane. Thus, the resultant moment and resultant
force will be mutually perpendicular. The resultant moment can be replaced by
moving the resultant force a perpendicular or moment arm distance d away from
point O such that produces the same moment about point O. This distance d can be
determined from the scalar equation = d = or d = .
• Parallel Force System. The parallel force system consists of forces that
are all parallel to the z axis. Thus, the resultant force = F at point O
must also be parallel to this axis.
• Procedure for Analysis
The technique used to reduce a coplanar or parallel force system to a single
resultant force follows a similar procedure outlined in the previous section.
• Establish the x , y , z , axes and locate the resultant force an arbitrary distance away
from the origin of the coordinates.
Force Summation.
• The resultant force is equal to the sum of all the forces in the system.
• For a coplanar force system, resolve each force into its x and y components. Positive
components are directed along the positive x and y axes, and negative components are
directed along the negative x and y axes.
Moment Summation.
• The moment of the resultant force about point O is equal to the sum of all the couple
moments in the system plus the moments of all the forces in the system about O .
• This moment condition is used to find the location of the resultant force from point O
.
Example
• Replace the force and couple moment system acting on the beam in
by an equivalent resultant force, and find where its line of action
intersects the beam, measured from point O .
• The slab is subjected to four parallel forces. Determine the magnitude
and direction of a resultant force equivalent to the given force system,
and locate its point of application on the slab.
• Replace the loading acting on the beam by a single resultant force.
Specify where the force acts, measured from B .
Reduction of a Simple Distributed
Loading
• Coplanar distributed loadings are defined by using a loading function
w = w(x) that indicates the intensity of the loading along the length of
a member. This intensity is measured in N/m or lb/ft.
• The external effects caused by a coplanar distributed load acting on a
body can be represented by a single resultant force.
• This resultant force is equivalent to the area under the loading
diagram, and has a line of action that passes through the centroid or
geometric center of this area.
Example
• Determine the resultant force and specify where it acts on the beam
measured from A.
• Determine the resultant force and specify where it acts on the beam
measured from A.